


The Meaning of Aloha

by rainbowgoddess



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Bromance, First Time, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-11
Updated: 2011-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-17 22:28:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/181956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowgoddess/pseuds/rainbowgoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny discovers that the word "Aloha" has more meanings than he thought it did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Meaning of Aloha

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Znaczenie słowa "Aloha"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2269779) by [karen0](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karen0/pseuds/karen0)



Danny was not very comfortable when people started speaking foreign languages around him. In the category "foreign languages" he included both the native Hawaiian language and the pidgin dialect spoken in Hawaii. He realized that neither of them was actually foreign to Hawaii, but they were foreign to him. What bothered him was that he always had just a slight suspicion that people were talking about him in a language he couldn't understand.

He accepted that Kono and Chin Ho sometimes spoke Hawaiian to each other. He was pretty sure they weren't going to talk about him behind his back. But he didn't understand why Steve sometimes used Hawaiian words instead of English ones — _mahalo_ instead of "thank you," for instance.

What really bugged him was that Steve had suddenly started saying "Aloha" to him. He supposed that Steve was doing it simply to annoy him. It was the sort of thing Steve would do. Every day when Danny arrived at work, Steve would break into a grin and say, "Aloha."

Danny had taken to ignoring him when he did this. He hadn't provided an explanation, and Danny wasn't going to ask for one.

He and Steve got along fine otherwise, though. If anyone had told him a few months ago that he'd count Steve McGarrett as one of his closest friends, Danny would have laughed at them and pointed out that he had nothing in common with a Navy SEAL who dangled people off the roofs of buildings.

Somewhere along the way, though, Danny had grown to respect Steve. Then he actually started to like Steve. Sometimes he thought he might even love Steve, but he'd never admit that to anyone, especially not to Steve.

Steve seemed to have developed a habit of "just dropping by" on weekends when Danny had Grace. One time he took them to the Dole plantation, where there was a pineapple maze. (Danny had a suspicion Steve had done that because he'd heard Danny refer to Hawaii as a pineapple-infested hellhole, but he didn't dare mention that around Grace.) Another time he took them to a sea life park that allowed Gracie to see dolphins up close, because he'd heard from Danny how much Grace loved dolphins. Another time they went to the Honolulu Zoo.

There was one weekend when Steve wasn't able to be with them because he was spending that weekend with his sister, Mary. That Friday a couple of tickets for a dolphin cruise showed up in Danny's mailbox with no return address and no indication where they'd come from. Danny had wanted to take Grace on a dolphin cruise ever since he'd moved to Hawaii, but they were quite expensive. The following Monday he'd asked Steve if he might have any idea where those tickets had come from, but Steve had denied all knowledge of them.

Danny didn't know how Steve knew about all the children's activities available around Oahu. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. If it weren't for the fact that it seemed like Steve was spending almost every weekend with him and Grace, he'd have thought that Steve probably had a girlfriend who had children. He didn't want to think of Steve having a girlfriend. He knew that Steve either had a girlfriend or used to have one, a woman he knew in the Navy, but he didn't know the status of that relationship, and he didn't want to know.

And still, every day when Danny arrived at Five-0 headquarters, Steve would greet him with a smile and "Aloha." He also said it when he saw Danny and Grace on weekends.

Finally, one day at work, Danny asked him, "Why do you keep using that word?"

"What word?" Steve asked innocently.

"Aloha. Why can't you say hello and goodbye like a normal person?"

"What's not normal about saying aloha? It's a very meaningful word. You should get used to hearing it."

"Like I should get used to not wearing a tie?" Danny asked.

"You are wearing a tie," Steve pointed out.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Never mind."

"Really, Danno, you should learn some of the local language — and stop wearing a tie. It would help you fit in."

"I have no plans to stop wearing a tie, so I'm afraid that that's something you're going to have to get used to."

"Then you're going to have to get used to me saying aloha," Steve replied.

Over the next few weeks Steve continued to say "aloha" every time he saw Danny, and he continued to bug Danny about learning a few words of Hawaiian.

One Sunday when Steve wasn't with them — some old Navy buddy was in Hawaii on leave or whatever it was Navy people got for days off — Danny was playing a game with Grace when she hugged him and said, "Aloha, Daddy."

"Why did you say aloha, honey?" he asked her. "It's not time to say goodbye yet."

"My teacher had a friend come in and teach our class some words in Hawaiian. She said that aloha means lots of things," Grace informed him. "Not just hello and goodbye."

"What else does it mean?" Danny asked.

"It means love," Grace said.

"I did not know that. I'm glad your teacher's friend taught you that, because now I can say 'aloha' to you too."

"And to Steve," Grace said.

"Why to Steve?"

"Because he says it to you," Grace pointed out.

"So he does. All right, I'll say it to Steve too."

When Grace had gone back to Rachel and Stan's house, Danny sat and thought. And thought some more. Finally, he reached a conclusion.

He picked up his cell phone and sent a text message to Steve. It contained only one word: _Aloha._

Danny wasn't surprised when Steve showed up at his door a few minutes later, though he was a little surprised at how fast Steve had made it there.

Before Danny could say hello — or aloha — Steve took him in his arms and kissed him thoroughly, a kiss Danny happily returned until he finally had to break free in order to breathe. Then Steve kissed him again, and again, until they finally moved to the bed, where they stripped each other's clothes off and made love.

When they were done they lay next to each other on the bed and just looked at each other for a few moments until Steve finally spoke. "You finally figured it out," he said.

"So all this time that you've been bugging me to learn the local language — this was why? So that I'd figure out why you kept saying 'aloha'? Why didn't you just come right out and say that you loved me?"

Steve looked embarrassed. "I was afraid to."

"What were you afraid of?"

"I've been enjoying the weekends with you and Grace, and I was afraid if you knew how I felt about you, you'd put a stop to it. I didn't want to lose either of you. But at the same time I didn't want to hide how I felt, either.

"So I made it a kind of game. I'd say 'Aloha,' and I knew you didn't know that it meant anything other than 'hello.' Most people don't. I also know how stubborn you are, and I knew that you wouldn't go to the trouble of finding out why I kept saying aloha unless it was actually important to you."

"Grace was the one who figured it out for me," Danny admitted. "Her teacher had someone come into the class to teach Hawaiian words, and one of them was aloha. She told me it meant love, and she also told me I should say it to you."

"Then I guess I have a lot to thank Grace for."

Danny reached out and took Steve in his arms. "How about you wait till next weekend for that. We have some adult stuff to do right now."

Steve smiled the smile that Danny loved so much and kissed him. "Aloha," he said.

Danny smiled right back. "I love you."

END


End file.
